Specification is ongoing in 3GPP for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), the next generation of Radio Access Network. A base station in this concept is called eNB (eNodeB, E-UTRAN NodeB). An E-UTRAN base station adapted to provide home or small area coverage for a limited number of users is called Home eNodeB (HeNB) in the context of this document.
A HeNB provides radio coverage for the end users and is connectable to the mobile core network using some kind of IP based transmission. The coverage area provided is relatively small.
One of the advantages with this way of providing Local Access is related to providing lower call or transaction rates/charges when connected via the HeNB compared to when connected via the eNB. This however creates a new problem or requirement, to also indicate to the end users when coverage and service is provided by a specific HeNB.
An attempt to handle local access services has been presented for circuit switched networks for GSM as may be seen in ETSI standard document TR 10.43 V1.0.0. However, this solution relates to overall cell specific services for all users in the cell.